Ms. Irosha Cooray

Director, Education Security and Culture

Ms. Irosha Cooray joined the SAARC Secretariat on 01 September 2021 as Director for Education, Security and Culture.

She began her career in the Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 2009 as an Assistant Director of the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka. Her appointments in Colombo include Assistant Director- Europe, CIS and Americas Division; Deputy Director - Overseas Administration Division; Director- Europe, Central Asia and Commonwealth Division and Director- Ocean Affairs, Environment and Climate Change Division. Her most recent assignment in the Ministry prior to joining the SAARC Secretariat was as Director of the UN & HR Division.

In Ms. Cooray’s Diplomatic career, she held two diplomatic positions in Sri Lanka Missions abroad prior to her current posting at the SAARC Secretariat. She served from 2011-2014 in the High Commission of Sri Lanka in Bangladesh as Second Secretary and subsequently from 2016- 2019 she was posted to Sri Lanka Embassy and Permanent Mission in Austria as Counsellor and Alternate Representative to the United Nations.

Ms. Cooray has a Bachelor of Science (Hon.) Degree from the University of Kelaniya and she has a Masters Degree in Conflict Management and Peace Studies at the University of Colombo.

Ms. Cooray is married with two sons.